Battle of the Year

Mr. Y and I were watching So You Think You Can Dance tonight, and saw a preview for Battle of of the Year.  As Mr. Y put it, it's like they took a typical martial arts or sports movie with all the cliches (underdogs triumphing, individuals learning how to become a team, down-on-his-luck coach getting a second chance, etc.), and applied it to the subject of dance.

The movie has a few familiar faces.  My first reaction was wondering what Josh Holloway is doing in this movie.  Definitely not an obvious choice for a dance movie.  Some of the dancers also looked familiar, like Chris Brown (yes, THAT Chris Brown), SYTYCD dancers Dominic Sandoval and Jonathan "Legacy" Perez, and a bunch of dancers from LXD (the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) like Luis Rosado, Ivan "Flipz" Perez, and Caity Lotz.

Trailer below:

Star Trek Into Darkness Teaser

The teaser for Star Trek Into Darkness was released last Thursday, and the first nine minutes was shown before IMAX showings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey last Friday.  The voiceover for the teaser trailer was done by Benedict Cumberbatch, playing a villain named "John Harrison."  He ominously stated, "You think your world is safe.  It is an illusion, a comforting lie told to protect you. Enjoy these final moments of peace. For I have returned. To have. My. Vengeance.”  There is rampant speculation that he is playing Khan, but no official confirmation.  There is some more clues in the Japanese version of the teaser, which includes additional scenes not seen in the U.S. teaser.

The other theory is that he is playing Gary Mitchell, a good friend of Kirk's and a one-time student at the Starfleet Academy.  Mitchell gained a whole bunch of powers and became more cruel and convinced that he was above humanity.  Kirk ended up battling and burying him in a grave that Mitchell had meant for Kirk. 

Definitely looking forward to this movie. 

Iron Man 3 Trailer

The trailer for Iron Man 3 is out, and it looks really good, although not for Tony Star.  There are a lot of destruction and explosions, and Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) definitely looks to be in trouble.  Poor Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is kidnapped, and Tony's beautiful seaside house is also destroyed. 

Ben Kingsley shows up briefly as the main villain in the movie, the Mandarin.  The Mandarin owns ten Rings of Power that he recovered from a crashed alien spaceship.  He's supposed to be half-Chinese and half-English.  In the trailer he has a chilling voiceover: "“Ladies, children, sheep.  Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher. Lesson No. 1: Heroes. There is no such thing.”

What To Expect When You're Expecting

I recently saw the trailer for the movie What To Expect When You're Expecting.  This movie is inspired by the best-selling pregnancy book of the same name.

I got the book when I was pregnant, and stopped reading it because it was so exhaustive that I got overwhelmed, and also couldn't stop thinking about all the bad things the book says can happen to you and/or your baby.  It's a good reference if you want to look something up, but I would not read it cover to cover. 

The movie is about five couples who are expecting babies in different ways, and it stars a lot of people: Cameron Diaz, Matthew Morrison, Jennifer Lopez, Rodrigo Santoro, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, etc.  The most hilarious part of the trailer was when Rodrigo Santoro's character attended a fathers' group, and they told him the real truths.  Mr. Y said he can definitely relate.  I can relate to Elizabeth Banks's character, who hated being pregnant. 

Most of the main cast don't have kids.  Only Jennifer Lopez and Elizabeth Banks have kids.  Lopez has 4-year-old twins, Max and Emme with her estranged husband Marc Anthony, and Elizabeth Banks has been open about welcoming her son Felix through surrogacy last year.   

I'm not usually a fan of these movies with a large cast (Love Actually is the only exception), but the trailer had its funny moments and I like most of the cast.  So I might see this one when it comes out on DVD or on TV. 

Lily Collins and Snow White

Lily Collins is a new star who is in the Snow White movie with Julia Roberts, Mirror Mirror (as opposed to the Snow White and the Huntsman starring Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron).  She was also in Abduction and The Blind Side, and dated her Abduction co-star, Taylor Lautner, briefly.

Mr. Y actually knew something about her before I did - that she's the daughter of Phil Collins.  I looked up pictures of the two of them, and they do look alike.  Her mom is Jill Tavelman, Phil Collins's second wife.  In case you're curious, he has been married three times.

I've seen the trailers for both Snow White movies, and it's interesting to me how different they are.  Snow White and the Hunstman was darker and scarier, and Charlize Theron is quite terrifying as the Evil Queen.  Mirror Mirror is sunnier and more comedic, but at least in the trailer I thought Julia Roberts did a great job of instilling some menace to her portrayal of the Evil Queen, despite the candy-colored costumes and sets.  Chris Hemsworth and Arnie Hammer play the Huntsman and the Prince, and again they were set up very differently.  Chris was more dirty, dark, and brooding while Arnie was clean cut and smiley.

It would be interesting to compare the two when they actually come out.  Mirror Mirror is up first in March, and Snow White and the Huntsman comes out in June.

The Hobbit Trailer

Finally saw the trailer for the first of two The Hobbit movies today. Looks great, and definitely very similar to Lord of the Rings. Although I like Guillermo del Toro, I am glad Peter Jackson is directing The Hobbit. The trailer showed a nice mix of fun, adventure, and danger. I haven't read the book in awhile, but planning on doing so before the movie comes out next December. There are a few changes between the movie and the book, since they've already announced that several characters in the movie are not in the book, like Frodo, Legolas, and Galadriel. Of course it's a good excuse to have Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, and Cate Blanchett back. :)

I can't wait for this movie!

The Dark Knight Rises

Just watched the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, the last film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.  It looks so amazing.  You can see it here:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/19/the-dark-knight-rises-trailer-explosive-scary-political/

So many different disturbing images, from an exploding football field to an army of prisoners armed with machine guns.  The line that gave me the biggest shudder, though, was when Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman), whispered into Bruce Wayne's ear, “You think this is going to last. There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches because when it hits, you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”

Mr. Y commented that a lot of Inception actors are also in this movie - Marion Cottilard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tom Hardy.  We're just missing Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page.

What Christopher Nolan has always done brilliantly is to make movies that are both timely and timeless. Selina's words clearly invoked the current Occupy movements, but the struggle of the lower class and the acceptable use of violence in rebellions without crossing into terrorism are thorny, age-old issues.

The superhero genre originally became popular because it provides an escape into a world where good and evil are clearly delineated and a few individuals, albeit with amazing powers and/or gadgets, can fight the evil. However, as the genre evolved, it became popular to give the heroes some sort of complexes. Hence the rise of the dark, human Batman as a counter to the relentlessly good, alien Superman.

I think Nolan's biggest achievement is not highlighting Batman's dark side, but keeping hope alive in these movies. It would be very easy to slide into total darkness, but Nolan know that you have to allow for some light at the end of the tunnel. That is what makes a great superhero movie.

Can't wait for The Dark Knight Rises!

The Avengers Trailer

The new trailer for the movie the Avengers came out a couple of days ago, and it's totally awesome.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/10/11/the-avengers-trailer/

As a quick background, the Avengers in this movie consist of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk.  There are other characters involve in the Avengers in the comic books and TV shows, but I'm guessing it would be too much to include all of them.  That is a lot of beefcake in one movie: Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey, Jr., and Mark Ruffalo, plus Scarlett Johanssen.

I don't know how the actual movie is going to be, but based on the trailer, it looks really good.  Robert Downey, Jr. gets all the funny lines, and it's nice to see that they aren't going to be all buddy-buddy.  Best exchange from the trailer:

Captain America (Chris Evans): "Big man in a suit of armor, take that away – what are you?"
Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.): "Uh... genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

The director is Joss Whedon, and I usually like his work, so I do have high expectations.  I hope it will be good!

One for the Money

The trailer for the movie version of One for the Money is out.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/09/26/one-for-the-money-trailer/

For the uninitiated, One for the Money is based on the first book in the Stephanie Plum series written by Janet Evanovich.  Stephanie Plum is a down-on-her-luck divorcee who ended up working as a bail bondsman for her sleazy cousin Vinny.  She has two love interests in her life: the cop Joe Morelli and the mysterious bondsman Ranger.  She also has a crazy family, especially her Grandma Mazur, and she became friends with hookers, especially Lulu.

The books themselves are pretty fun, but I stopped reading after the first few because they became really repetitive.  I did remember enjoying the first one, though, so I hope I will like this movie.  So far the cast doesn't really match my expectations.  Katherine Heigl seems miscast as Stephanie, and Jason O'Mara doesn't look Italian enough to be Joe Morelli.  I like Debbie Reynolds, but I always imagine Grandma Mazur to be more like Grandma Yetta from the Nanny.  I definitely won't see it in the theaters, but perhaps it'll be worth a look on DVD depending on the reviews when it comes out.